A sailboat with migrants was spotted off Pylos

The Coast Guard was alerted this morning off Pylos as a sailboat with illegal immigrants was spotted in the sea area 43 nautical miles off the southern Greek city.

A rescue operation is underway, as four ships and a helicopter of the Navy are in the area, which is blowing northerly winds of five Beaufort while floating vessels of the Coast Guard are also rushing, Proto Thema reported.

Only a week ago, the Hellenic Coast Guard coordinated the rescue of 49 illegal migrants from a cargo ship 109 nautical miles southwest of Pylos.

Forty-seven people were evacuated to a Coast Guard vessel, while a 21-year-old woman with sunburn and her companion were flown to Kalamata Hospital by helicopter.

The boat transporting the migrants was traveling in international territorial waters, which fall under Greece’s jurisdiction.

The migrants originally notified the Rome operations room, which in turn notified the Greek authorities.

The migrants were expected to arrive at the port of Kalamata, where they were to be identified and registered, as well as examined by medical specialists. Following that, they were to remain in the city until their transfer to a special migrant facility.

These recent incidences are off the back of the deadly night of June 14, when a trawler carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off Pylos. The Greek coastguard and Frontex were alerted to the trawler on the morning of 13 June, and both agencies photographed it from the air but no search and rescue operation was conducted because the boat had refused assistance.

Nearly half of the estimated 750 people on board are thought to have been Pakistani citizens taking an emerging people-smuggling route to Italy. Only 104 people are believed to have survived.

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